All of the known methods of extracting methane involve the extraction of gas solely from coal beds and do not consider extracting methane from the permeable enclosing rocks, which does not fully ensure the future working safety of the mine operators. Among the known methods used are:                washing out of the bed/well around the borehole with the aid of spontaneous emissions of coal and gas;        provocation and maintaining of self-destruction with formation of a collector zone by means of hydrodynamic action;        injecting water and air, as well as carbon dioxide gas, into the coal bed;        extraction of methane gas from single-shaft and multiple-shaft horizontal wells;        formation of cavities around a well;        extracting of methane gas through degasification wells;        hydraulic fracturing of coal beds.        
However, these methods are costly, labor-intensive, ecologically unsafe, energy-intensive and inefficient, as shown by the large number of both vertical and horizontal wells with no inflow of coalbed methane.